Gardeners' Notes:

Growing two male vines in a very sunny dry spot - I wanted to avoid attracting raccoons to the fruit. I had variegation on both in the first year, but it doesn't last long. Small white flowers are very fragrant. It is hard to train the green wood - has a mind of it's own. I'm in Toronto Ontario Canada and we get quite a freeze, but these two don't mind. The lower areas of the vine are pretty sparse, but I've planted nasturtium at the base and they fill the whole base out and climb half way up the vine. My vines have not grown quickly like others report. Growth is only until the summer heat hits. Up to about 7 feet in 3 years.

An attractive plant rarely troubled by pests or diseases, and its fruit is delicious.

But this is a monster-growing twiner. It can easily grow to 50' or more, if it has something to climb, and may be more plant than the average homeowner wants to deal with, like a wisteria. A. polygama is a smaller, less vigorous plant, to 15' or so, with small sweet tasty fruit.

Let me first say that I live in the most Northernmost part of New York state, literally on the U.S. Canadian border. Zone map states this is a zone 4, however, we seem to be in a pocket of Zone 5, as at least half of my massive garden consists of zone 5 plants. We planted three hardy kiwi vines three years ago. Two were purchased together as Arctic Beauty male and female set..the third was purchased separately, a Ruby Red kiwi vine and was supposed to be a female, as a matter of fact, it still has the original tag on the plant from the company I purchased it from that clearly states it's a female. I did not know exactly how to plant them, but did know that they needed a strong trellis. We built a huge trellis from cedar, stuck the plants in the ground and let them go. They get full d... read moreirect sun all day, and we do water them occasionally during dry spells. Although the plants are winter hardy, the leaves are very frost sensitive..it is very much worth your while to cover it if possible during late frosts. After three years, we got blossoms!! two of the three plants bloomed, the male did not, which was very depressing, but, not surprising as the two other plants were much bigger than the male, which had struggled to survive the first year. We figured we'd have to wait another year for fruit. Imagine my shock and surprise when after the bloom was done, close inspection of the plants showed small kiwi forming on the Arctic Beauty female!! what!!?? How could that be, when the male never bloomed? The Ruby Red vine had no fruits on it at all, all the blossoms had shriveled and fallen off. I searched this sight and found photos of male and female kiwi flowers, and looked at the photos I had taken of the blooms, and discovered the Ruby Red female actually was a male, according to the photos...I have plans of contacting the company from where it was purchased and letting them know they sold me a miss marked plant. As far as the varigation of the leaves, we've seen none of that, but it is a healthy strong vine. The only insect type problem we've ever had with them was an assault of tiny slugs that first year. It seems as if bugs don't seem to like the taste of them. I'm looking forward to being able to finally taste one of these little treasures ;)

We have four arctic beauty kiwi vines. None of them have any pink; they're four years old and this is the first year white varigation has shown up. They've reached 15 ft. and are still going. They flowered for the first time this year, too. I'm a bit puzzled about that. They had white bloom, not purple, and all four are setting fruit. I thought we'd need a male, and was disappointed when all four bloomed, but I guess they pollinated somehow. You might want to plant extras - we put in 8 and four died the first year.

I've found that the variegation doesn't last long, and I'm wondering if the summer heat in my area may have something to do with that.
The stems definitely have 'minds of their own'...they'll wind and twine around anything in sight.
A strong support is eventually needed.
The flowers are simple, but are plentiful, very fragrant and BEES absolutely love them.
I'm unsure as to whether my plant is male or female, as I've not noticed any fruits. I admit I haven't paid close attention, as the plant is grown in an 'out of the way' place in my yard.

Have strong shade tolerance for me. It will grow in woodland shade but very slowly with no variegation the first few years then once it reach better sunlight it will show more variegation and grows more quickly. I have it grow in old fashion lilac that is at least 27 years old. Will rhizome? rarely - I have found a few young speciments 4 to 5 feet from the parent plant - no fruits are producted because there are not any opposite sex to pollinate. When the vines is overhead you can see the large amount of flowers being producted and the flowers hang downward so product a excellent arbor. The flowers product a fragrance smell and then the flowers shed enmass on the ground making it look like flurries have landed on the ground. Have brittle stems that break easily especially in the winter tim... read moree. Very underused even for a vine - even most plant collectors don't have it.

After reading a few of the comments above, they may be of different cultivars or species of kiwis - the fruits brought at stores tend to be of zone 6?7? and higher thus not hardy to the upper part of the US. Those grown in the upper part of the US tend to be of different species, hybrids, and cultivars - usually smaller fruits that is not covered in hairs but no less good! The Arctic Beauty Kiwi tend to make no fruits unless you have other cultivars or more than three plants - it's a hit and miss to find if you have male plants or female plants as you need one of each to product fruits.

I've grown kiwi (male) in a large pot in part sun. It's been pretty successful, but the pink/white disappears pretty quickly. (It's gorgeous while it lasts.) I knew I didn't quite have the sun for it but it suits my other needs, shape, colour and size. It has over-wintered well in zone 5 with the plastic pot siting atop of wood planks in a protected spot.

I started plants from seeds from a store bought kiwi about 10 yrs ago. (Ended up with 3 healthy plants.) They were planted on the fence line and and grew up into trees. Last year was the first year they produced fruit and they were literally covered. We cut them back to about 5 feet and picked the fruit off the vines as we cut them back. They were in mostly shade and the fruit didn't ripen well. This year I dug them up, cut the root ball back to fit in a large pot. (They were just beginnng to bud out.) And am moving them to a spot with almost full sun. So, we'll see. Has anyone out there grown kiwi in pots?

We have laid the foundation for 10 Kiwi plants and with cement setting on each Trellis. I will be starting with 3 Saanichton, 2 Anna's, 1 Hardy Male, a Cordifolia, a Dunbarton and 2 Kolomikta's. They are of various ages and we shall see how they take to our location, soil and how long before we have flowers and hopefully fruit as well as their natural beauty.

This kiwi is a relatively fast-growing, deciduous, woody vine which typically grows 15-20' and features tiny, slightly fragrant, greenish-white flowers in early summer and attractive, heart-shaped (to 5" long), green foliage variegated with white and/or pink. Flowers are not particularly showy since they are often hidden by the foliage. Juvenile foliage is purplish green. This species is dioecious (separate male and female plants), and the male plants reportedly have better leaf variegation than the female plants. Greenish-yellow, 1" long, edible fruits appear on female plants in early fall.

This vine is grown for it's heart-shaped foliage, which opens purple and matures to bright green marked with splashes of white and pink. It's flowers, though fragrant, are inconspicuous. Grapelike berries produced by the female plant are edible and ripen in fall. Train this vine to cover a fence or arbor, it can grow to twenty feet. Cats can be attracted to it's leaves, shredding them happily.